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Age of cigarettes and knives going up to 18

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
What do you think about this?
It's going up next year but Asda (where i work) are bringing it in next month.
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Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    14 year olds seem to smoke now, they still will.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Nice idea, but as the above post said. Kids are still going to smoke at any age they want unfortunately.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Great so now not only will I have 14 and 15 year olds asking me to buy them cigs, (I never do) I'll have 16 and 17 year olds asking too. :rolleyes:

    I don't think it'll make a damned bit of difference, but it would be nice if it did.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i think its a good idea.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Good idea, but what about the 17 year olds that are already addicted?
  • Teh_GerbilTeh_Gerbil Posts: 13,332 Born on Earth, Raised by The Mix
    i think smoking should be abandoned altogether.

    Aye, I agree here. But the government make WWAAAYYY to much cash for that to happen.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I should also say they are also gonna be really cracking down on people who buy them for kids.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Good idea, but what about the 17 year olds that are already addicted?


    Yeah was wondering that myself.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Social services told my mum she should buy my 14 year old sister (she's nearly 16 now) cigarettes if she wanted them. So my mum did start to, before she used to confiscate any she found on my sister but apparently thats mean.

    The laws wont change much.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Social services told my mum she should buy my 14 year old sister (she's nearly 16 now) cigarettes if she wanted them. So my mum did start to, before she used to confiscate any she found on my sister but apparently thats mean.

    WTF?:eek: Encouraging you mum to break the law?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I think it's sensible to say that someone is required to legally be an adult before they can take drugs that are going to harm them. As for banning them, that's a stupid idea. You'd end up with all the crime that goes with illegal drugs at the moment, plus loads more. I worry enough about my house being broken into by some crackhead teenager, without having to be on guard for middle aged women coughing and spluttering all over the place as they try and make it over your garden fence.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Tweety wrote:
    WTF?:eek: Encouraging you mum to break the law?

    Yea, because my sister 'needed' them, and it was cruel to not let her have them. My sister was supposed to behave in return, completely the opposite of how it should be. You shouldn't give children rewards to try and coax them into doing good behaviour, they should do the good thing and then you reward them.

    Mind you, a fair few of the social services people we've spoken to have been in trouble. It seems like a large portion of them are completely incompetent. One of them made my blood boil because she was slagging off my family to other families.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yea, because my sister 'needed' them, and it was cruel to not let her have them. My sister was supposed to behave in return, completely the opposite of how it should be. You shouldn't give children rewards to try and coax them into doing good behaviour, they should do the good thing and then you reward them.

    I think that was very wrong of the woman to suggest.
    At her age i could have stopped smoking easy if i couldn't get any. Feeding the habit just means she will get more hooked.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    personally i don't think any knifes other than kitchen knifes and pen knifes for jobs are necessary. All other kinds of knifes shouldn't be sold. And i think it should be illegal to sell them on the internet.
    Of course knifes will still end up on the street but i think it will help.

    Theres no point in raising the smoking age. Kids will still smoke.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Tweety wrote:
    I think that was very wrong of the woman to suggest.
    At her age i could have stopped smoking easy if i couldn't get any. Feeding the habit just means she will get more hooked.

    Yea thats what I thought.

    My sister is very much addicted now, and :lol: blames my mum.

    I'm fortunate that I never want to smoke and I never will. I'm going to go to York university and look at ducks all day. :yes:

    I hate smoking, the idea of smoking, everything. I don't think I could have a relationship with a smoker even if I liked them a lot, I associate it with so many bad things.

    I tend to lean more towards the drugs lobbying on issues like this though. Legalisation and regulation is far better than banning things and letting an unregulated black market control supply. If you go to a school playground (11 - 14 year olds) you can sell cigarrettes for £1 each. I think the teachers must turn a blind eye, because I always see the same 'dealers' (of cannabis too) hanging around. I told my tutor at college and they said they have to make a formal report.

    I think there is too much apathy in the system for any countermeasures to underage smoking drinking or whatever to work. People don't really seem to care. When I see a young person smoking in the street it makes my stomach turn. Some of my friends see me flinch like I've just swallowed something nasty and laugh about it. But I think that's because I hate smoking so much, nobody else seems to care.

    Live and let live, I suppose. Or live and let die, more appropriately.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Ballerina wrote:
    personally i don't think any knifes other than kitchen knifes and pen knifes for jobs are necessary. All other kinds of knifes shouldn't be sold. And i think it should be illegal to sell them on the internet.
    Of course knifes will still end up on the street but i think it will help.

    Theres no point in raising the smoking age. Kids will still smoke.

    There are jobs that require specialist knives though. You know the insulation they put in your loft is about 25cm thick (not sure)? They use a long knife, like a carving knife, to cut through.

    shopItems250.jpg

    And also, whereever you restrict the sale or use of anything, there is always a black market to fill the void. Reducing demand is the most effective way to stop the supply of these items, because most 'dealers' are just ordinary people looking to make a quick buck. You can't stop them anymore than you can stop flies on a dog poo, because another 10 will land in the place of the first one.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Ballerina wrote:
    All other kinds of knifes shouldn't be sold.

    Most knives used in stabbings ect are just kitchen knives so i don't think it would make much difference.
  • Teh_GerbilTeh_Gerbil Posts: 13,332 Born on Earth, Raised by The Mix
    And also, whereever you restrict the sale or use of anything, there is always a black market to fill the void. Reducing demand is the most effective way to stop the supply of these items, because most 'dealers' are just ordinary people looking to make a quick buck. You can't stop them anymore than you can stop flies on a dog poo, because another 10 will land in the place of the first one.

    Exactally - if they are legal you can at least try to control the supply.

    Make them illegal - you lose that, as they are all just sold illegaly.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Pointless. If I was buying cigarettes for 3 years illegally, so will kids now. It's gonna change bugger all.

    I'm just glad I'm 18 in 18 days tbh.
  • littlemissylittlemissy Posts: 9,972 Supreme Poster
    Yes. Raise the limit.

    To 403.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yes. Raise the limit.

    To 403.
    I remember reading an article that argued it should be raised to about 70. The reasoning being that kids start smoking in order to impress their friends and look older, so you have to raise it to an age that none of them would actually want to look.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    rasing the smokeing age wont make that much of a difference, im 15 but i have no problem getting myself some smokes and theres a shop in town, a chippy that will give you a 20 deck of obviously stolen smokes for £2.80 instead of the £5.23 i pay in my local garage.

    If its raised to 18, im pretty sure the 16-18yr old who works in the garage isnt either gonna care or notice that change in age, to him im just an extra sale, and anyway i'll just goto the chippy, for the price of a 20 deck in there i can get a 20 deck and a cheesy chip so im all set.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    :thumb: i think it's a good idea too.

    btw starting soon at tesco if you bring your own carrier bags in to re-use you can claim 1 green clubcard point! hot off the press that is. :razz:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    .
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I had no idea that there was an age limit for buying knives. How weird :chin:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Infinite wrote:
    I had no idea that there was an age limit for buying knives. How weird :chin:
    There's one for buying tippex as well :yes:.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Franki wrote:
    Pointless. If I was buying cigarettes for 3 years illegally, so will kids now. It's gonna change bugger all.

    I'm just glad I'm 18 in 18 days tbh.


    depends how old you look. you're tall so this probably makes you look older. at least if they raise the age by 2 years a 14 year old would stand no chance of buying fags (off anyone with any sense to ask for id!).

    also over 18's are more likely to carry ID.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    depends how old you look. you're tall so this probably makes you look older.
    That's true, actually. The only reason I was buying them in the first place was because my friends, who were about 5'4", couldn't get served.

    Ah, exploitation, my favourite thing :yeees:.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I think this a Politics and Debate thread.
    I was waiting to see if anything came of it. Will move it if it lets me.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I agree with this move, but admittedly it'll be difficult to make it work.

    My suggestion would be that retailers extend the 'Check 21' scheme currently used for alcohol to cigarettes and knives as well.
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